Birthday Surprise
by Violet26
Summary: It's Sirius' birthday and James wants to do something special for his friend, unfortunately for Remus. WolfStar. A little humor, I hope. Comments and Critiques welcome, just be kind please. All finished! The last chapter has some cursing but I think the rating's still fine.
1. Chapter 1

Sirius sat on his bed, his back was against the headboard and he stared in the distance at nothing in particular. His friends sat around the room and were talking but he wasn't really paying attention until he heard Frank call to him.

"Sirius!" Frank called again.

"What?" Sirius asked, turning to look at Frank.

"I asked what you wanted to do today." Frank said as he slumped over the arm of the chair he was sitting in.

Sirius shrugged. "Don't know, why?"

"It's your birthday and the weekend, we have to do something." Frank stated tiredly. It was still early for a weekend but none of the boys could fall back asleep after Peter had woke them up with a sharp and loud scream. They still didn't know what brought it on.

"Frank's right mate." James called from his spot on his bed. He stretched but continued staring at the canopy.

"Maybe Remus has an idea." Peter chimed in looking up from his spot in front of James' bed.

James smiled slyly at Peters' remark. Sirius looked at him curiously. "What did you do?"

James shot up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "The shower stopped." His grin grew wider as he watched the bathroom door.

"I **asked** you a question." Sirius said, feeling uneasy about how his friend was acting.

James placed a finger to his lips. "Shh," he began. "You'll see."

Everyone turned to watch the bathroom door with curiosity. Moments later the door swung open and Remus burst into the room. He stood in his spot, wearing nothing but a towel that hung dangerously low on his hips. He scanned the room and narrowed his eyes when he saw James. "What did you do with them?" He asked James as calmly as he could.

Frank and Peter watched the scene in confusion. James tried to pull off an innocent look. Sirius watched his friends for a moment too. It wasn't long before he had to turn away from Remus though as he felt a blush forming on his face and a familiar heat in his body.

"What are you talking about?" Frank spoke up first.

Remus turned towards Frank and did his best to tighten his towel. "When I was showering my clothes were on the hook next to showers. When I got out they were gone." He said coolly. His attention snapped back to James when he heard him snicker. "Give me my clothes back!" He nearly snarled the words out.

"What makes you think I took them?" James questioned calmly but his innocent demeanor was quickly dissolving.

"I don't think it was you, I know it was you." Remus said matter-of-factly. "I know you."

Sirius shook his head. He was all for pranking his friends but this was a bit much. Remus was shy about the scars that remained behind after his transformations, which was why he never changed in front of the rest of them. _"James,"_ he called to his friend, annoyed.

James laughed. "Alright, alright, keep your towel on Remus."

"Yes, please." Peter let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah," Frank added. "Nobody wants to see that towel drop." He sent Remus a quick smile to which Remus glared. Frank frowned and looked down at the floor.

James knelt between Sirius' and his beds. He whispered loud enough for Sirius to hear. "No one wants to see that except maybe Sirius." He looked at his friend and winked. Sirius narrowed his eyes. Ignoring his friend James stood up with Remus' clothes in hand. "Here you are." He rolled up the clothes and tossed them to Remus.

"Thank you." Remus said coldly as he caught the clothes and walked back into the bathroom.

Once they heard their friend close the door Frank, Peter and James burst out laughing. "That wasn't funny." Sirius snapped.

James shrugged. "He'll get over it." He stretched and began walking towards the door. "I'm going down for breakfast." He grabbed for the door handle but turned to face Sirius before he left. "Oh Sirius" he began. Sirius looked at him questionably. "Happy Birthday!" James laughed and bolted out the door.

Frank and Peter burst out laughing again. Sirius threw a pillow at the pair and flew off the bed and out the door. The two remaining boys could hear footsteps on the stairs and a shout of, "You're going to die Potter!"

Remus came out of the of the bathroom moments later a lot calmer than he had been. He looked around the room. "Where are Sirius and James?" The other two just shrugged. Remus shook his head but didn't say anything else. "I'm going to breakfast, you two coming?" The two in question exchanged glances then stood up and followed him out the door.


	2. A new surprise

James flopped onto his bed face down. "My friends are idiots." He muttered into his pillow.

"Hey!" Peter cried from his own bed.

James sat up slowly. "Sorry Pete, not talking about you." Peter had his moments James thought, though that was besides the point. "Sirius and Remus." he clarified.

"What now?" Peter asked, recalling earlier events.

"After breakfast, I went down to the Quidditch pitch with Sirius. He scolded me once again about this morning and I told him it was all his fault" Peter laughed but James continued. "Told him if he told Remus how he felt I wouldn't have to tease him."

Peter laughed louder. " Forcing a half-naked Remus out of the bathroom to search for his clothes, is…" Peter scratched his head , with a puzzled look, "teasing him?"

James jumped up, making Peter jump, startled by his friends actions, and pointed a finger at Peter. "Exactly!" he shouted. "If he would stop pinning and just tell Remus how he feels I wouldn't have to come up with elaborate plans to force it out of him.

"Elaborate?" Peter raised a questioning eyebrow.

James crossed his arms and huffed as he sat back down on his bed. "Don't see you doing anything." he said.

Peter frowned a bit. "Maybe I don't feel the need to push the two together, maybe I don't think it's my business."

James narrowed his eyes at his friend. "You're just afraid of Sirius." he stated matter-of-factly.

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well," he paused for a moment before continuing. "Maybe there's that too."

James rolled his eyes and fell backwards on his bed. "It's still Sirius' birthday, there's gotta be another gift we can get him to help him feel better about confessing his feelings to Remus."

Peter thought for a moment then spoke up quietly. "How about a poem?"

James narrowed his eyes at the canopy of his bed. "Sirius doesn't write poetry.

Peter shrugged despite knowing his friend couldn't see him. "Remus does." he pointed out.

James thought for a moment then sat up again. "What are you gettin' at?" he questioned, having an idea of what his friend was suggesting.

Peter beamed at James' interest. "I just thought we'd write a poem to Sirius from Remus, confessing his feelings, I mean," he scratched his head nervously. "We know Remus fancies Sirius just as much as Sirius fancies Remus, right?"

James smirked. "I don't think that's possible," he snorted. "But okay." Peter chuckled. James thought about Peter's plan and grinned widely. "You know what Pete" he began, catching Peter's eyes. "You're a genius!" James frowned again. "One problem, we don't know anything about poetry."

"Maybe Frank does." Peter suggested.

James shook his head. "No, but.." he thought for a moment. "Maybe that girl he's liked since second year, "Alice" he gestured with his hand. "Alice Somebody." He looked at Peter for help but Peter simply shrugged. "Doesn't matter," he waved it off. "Maybe Alice can help, could ask Evans but…" he trailed.

Peter smirked. "I think Franks' downstairs now, should I ask him to come up here?"

James smiled. "Yeah," he said before laughing. "That's a good boy Pete."

Peter narrowed his eyes. He didn't appreciate James talking to him like a dog.

James didn't seem to notice anything and simply laid back down with his hands behind his head. "Tell him to hurry to!" He called as Peter sighed and began towards the door. "We have a lot to do before lunch." 

Peter was back up with Frank in tow within minutes. The three then sat around and began to discuss the new plan for Sirius' birthday.

James cocked an eyebrow at Frank. "So, you think you can get Alice to help us with the poem?"

Frank shrugged. "I think so but what do I tell her I need it for?"

"Just tell her you're helping a friend out, he needs some pointers." James straightened out his glasses. "Maybe she could write a sample."

Frank nodded. "She does love poetry."

James had to stifle a laugh when he saw the blush slowly cover his friends face. Frank got up to leave. "Oh," James said suddenly. "We need it in the next half hour."

Frank turned in surprise. "That soon?"

James nodded. "We'll need time to reword it and to figure who'll deliver it and I want the delivery done at lunch."

"Why?" Frank had a puzzled look on his face.

"Remus will be late to lunch and I think it's best to have it done when he's not around." James answered simply. "Besides this all has to happen before the party tonight."

Frank nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."

Frank supposed James' reasoning made sense, he just hoped he could find Alice soon enough. For anyone else he would leave it be but Sirius was a friend and a dorm mate so he wanted to help. There was that of course, and the fact that Sirius's continuous moping because of feelings he thinks are unrequited is something he doesn't want to continue to see. _"It just isn't a pretty picture"_ Frank thought, shaking his head._ "It's too bad Remus doesn't notice, maybe Sirius does that on purpose."_

Frank returned to the dorm room about ten minutes later, poem in hand. James jumped from his spot on the floor and grabbed the paper Frank handed him.

"What were you doing digging under Remus' bed?" Frank sent James a questioning look.

James looked up from the paper. "We have to re-write this and I know Remus' mum and dad sent him some fancy stationery for his birthday."

"Oh," Frank stated flatly. "I'll leave you two to it then."

"You're not helping?" James asked curiously.

Frank shook his head. "Promised some other friend I'd help them with a project due on Monday."

James frowned. _"Some people,"_ he thought, frustrated. _"It's only Saturday, don't they know Sundays are school work days?"_

"K, see ya later," he called as Frank walked out of the door.

After their dorm mate had left James and Peter had spent the next fifteen minutes rewriting Alice's' poem. James glanced once more at the parchment after they had decided the poem was satisfactory. "Looks good to me." he said proudly.

"Me too" Peter agreed. "How are we going to deliver it?

James shrugged. "I hadn't thought that part out."

"We can't do it and Frank would look suspicious too." Peter stated.

"How about an owl?" James didn't know if his idea would work but figured it was worth a try. "Can't use mine but we can use a school one."

"Works for me." Peter smiled happily. "I have a letter to deliver to my folks so I can bring this to the owlery too." he grabbed the poem, already sealed in an envelope.

"Uh, yeah," James ran a hand through his hair. "Sure." he smiled weakly at his friend. He felt his stomach turn as he watched Peter leave. He had a bad feeling this wasn't going to turn out well. 

Upon seeing Peter walk in the Great Hall with a smile minutes after sending an owl off with the letter to Sirius, James' mind began to ease."Maybe this will go as planned after all" he thought.

Peter sat down next to James and soon after Sirius arrived and sat across from him. James smiled at him.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "What are you so happy about?"

"Always suspicious aren't we?" James said jokingly.

Sirius stared at him in disbelief for a moment. "With you?, yeah."

James placed a hand over his heart. "Siri, I'm hurt." he did his best to look offended.

"Don't call me that." Sirius narrowed his eyes at the other boy.

James shook his head at his friend and tsked. "You really don't care about my feelings do you?"

"Not really." Sirius deadpanned.

James frowned. "Now I really am hurt." he said to which Sirius merely laughed. He heard Peter laugh too right before he said, "Look!, someone's getting mail."

Seeing the owl on the weekend was an odd occurrence when most of the post came during the weekdays. It wasn't unheard of, of course, but still caused curious students to whisper and watch as the owl flew in and flew right past the Gryffindor table.

James watched the bird with a panic. He cast a glare towards Peter who stared at him with confusion. James watched as the bird dropped down, with what was clearly the envelope they had used for the poem, judging by the color, in front of Severus Snape at the Slytherin table. "No," James whispered. "No, no, no…" he trailed his silent pleading as he watched Snape pick up the envelope. He glared at a panic-stricken Peter. "What happened?" he mouthed.

Peter shrugged, with a guilty, slightly frightened look.

James ignored Peter knowing he had to think fast, trying to recover his voice he managed a fairly confident "Hmm," James turned his attention towards Sirius. "Who would send Snivellus a letter?"he asked in a snide and hopefully innocent tone. James didn't listen to Sirius' answer however as things went from bad to worse with Remus entering the Great Hall. He turned around as he heard footsteps behind him and paled when he realized Snape was coming their way the same time as Remus. He closed his eyes, raised his glasses up a bit to pinch the bridge of his nose and waited for the worst. He heard Peter squeak beside him.

Sirius noticed his friends odd behaviour and with eyes narrowed he asked, "_**What** did you two do_?" He didn't get an answer right away though as Remus sat down beside him.

Remus looked around from friend to friend. "What's going on?" he asked cautiously.

Before anyone could speak up a voice called from behind James. "Here's your letter back, Potter!" Severus Snape snapped. James cringed a bit a the tone of the other boy. "I have to admit that was _pathetic_ even for you, as if I would believe that rubbish was from Lupin" He said coolly. James looked up at him. "Lupin wouldn't misspell so many words, especially _simple_ ones like _diamonds_ and _sparkle_." he sneered. Snape began to walk away then stopped and turned back to look at Remus. "You might want to consider finding new friends."

Once Severus was back at his table Remus grabbed the forgotten letter and read the poem. "What is this?!" he snapped at his friends.

James chanced a glance at the boy who was now standing and casting a murderous glare his way. He swallowed hard. "It wasn't suppose to go to Snape." he answered weakly.

Peter squeaked again.

"I don't care **who** it was supposed to go to!" Remus' voice raised causing a few more onlookers. "You're supposed to be my friend but all day you've made me part of your stupid jokes!" He slammed the parchment back down on the table, causing the three of them and a few others to flinch.

Remus leaned in towards James. James could feel the chill of Remus' breath on him, "_I'll get you back for this."_ Remus' whispered, his voice was almost freighting. He straightened up, grabbed his stuff and walked away.

"I told you to leave it alone!" Sirius said with an icy tone to James, he had easily figured out who the letter had been for when he realized what it was.

James had felt his best friends' eyes burning a hole in him the whole time but just now turned to look at him. "I.." was all he got to say as he watched Sirius get up and go after Remus.

The hall had watched the whole scene but with Sirius' departure they turned their attention to other things. James turned his to Peter who took a moment to meet his eyes. "What _happened_?!" he snapped at the other boy.

Peter made a small noise in the back of his throat. "I tied the envelope to the owl, I began to say Sirius' name but there's a lot of dust up there and well," he began, a bit sheepishly. "I kind of, sort of,"

"Peter!" James snapped again, wishing his friend would get to the point.

Peter jumped. "I sneezed." he said quickly. "I sneezed while I said Sirius and it obviously sounded like Severus and the bird flew off before I could say Black I didn't think anything of it then figured it heard me clearly and I'm sorry." he finished in one breath. He inhaled deeply than exhaled slowly.

James shook his head. He didn't know what to say. He knew it was his fault for not going instead of Peter but, _"It was one simple thing"_ he thought. Instead of saying anything he folded his arms on the table and put head down on them in exasperation, it was going to be a long day.


	3. The other man

Remus and Sirius were sitting in the schools' library. Remus sat with a pile of books around him and was trying to study. Sirius sat with his feet on the table, arms behind his head and his chair tipped back on two legs.

Remus sighed and set his book down on the table in front of him. He glared at Sirius, who sat across from him. "You're going to hurt yourself, you know that right?" he scolded his friend.

Sirius smirked. "Only if I fall." he answered his friend.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Why do I bother?"

Sirius let his feet fall to the floor and leaned forward on the table. "Because you love me so much." he said jokingly with a wink and smile.

Remus stared at the other boy for a moment then shook his head. "No, that's not it." he deadpanned.

Sirius sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. He knew Remus was joking but couldn't help the pained feeling in his heart. He narrowed his eyes at his friend. "You're just as bad as James you know."

Remus laughed. "I believe I've learned more from you actually." Sirius snorted. "But speaking of James." Remus' tone became serious. "What's up with him today?"

Sirius shrugged and sighed. He knew what James had tried to do all day but couldn't tell Remus without telling him things he wasn't ready to say. "Don't know."

Remus frowned. "Somehow, I don't believe that."

Sirius ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Look, Rem, I…." Sirius was cut off by a voice calling to them.

"Hey Sirius, Remus." Peter said with a wave towards them. "Shhh." the librarian reprimanded him. "Sorry," he whispered to her. He stood next to his friends' table. "Remus, I need your help with a project."

"What kind of project?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"Ah, um." Peter stumbled.

Reus smiled as he stood up. "I'm sure it's just that essay for transfiguration." he grabbed his books. "It's due on Monday, remember?" he glanced at Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. "That's what Sundays' are for."

Remus snickered. "Now who sounds like James?"

Sirius looked at Remus with a hurt expression. "No need to be insulting." a smile played at the corner of his lips. Remus laughed.

"That's kind of mean," Peter spoke up. "I know James teases all of us but at least we're in the room when he does" he said matter-of-factly. Both of his friends cast him a curious look.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. Remus heard a small squeak come from Peter. Sirius' expression relaxed. "You're right Peter, We're sorry." The other two boys looked at him, surprised. "You know Pete," Sirius began. "James is lucky to have you." Peter gave him a puzzled looked. "Yep," Sirius said slapping a hand on the table. "You're going to make James a fine wife someday."

Remus snorted then clapped his free hand over his mouth in embarrassment. Sirius sent him an amused looked. Peter, however, huffed in annoyance and turned to leave. "What?" Sirius called to him as Peter began walking away. "You were in the room!" he laughed.

"Shh.." the librarian called to them. "Sorry," Remus told her. He turned his attention to Sirius. "Sirius," he said sternly. "Was that necessary?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Asks the guy who was laughing?"

Remus thought for a moment. "Yeah, well.." he trailed. "I better get going." he smiled, waved and began to walk away to find Peter. Before Remus got too far he turned back to his friend. "Hey, could you go find James?, it's getting kind of late and I think he's still down by the lake." he asked politely.

Sirius looked at Remus curiously. "I'm surprised you still care if he gets in trouble or not, after what's happened so far today."

Remus frowned. "Yeah, he's been a pain in the arse today and I still plan on getting him back but he's still a friend."

Sirius smiled at his friend and nodded. "Sure, I'll see if I can find him."

"Thanks" Remus said, returning Sirius' smile. "Better catch up to Peter." he said as he turned again and left Sirius alone.

Sirius watched his friend walk away. When he was sure Remus was gone he thumped his head against the table. He winced at the pain. "James is right," he muttered against the table. "I've got to tell him."

* * *

James sighed as he stared up at the sky from underneath his and his friends' favorite tree. It was getting late and he knew he should be heading inside but he just needed a few more minutes.

It was Sirius' birthday and all James had wanted to do for his friend was give him a few birthday surprises. Ones that would not only make him happy but also make him more confident in confessing his, not so secret, feelings for their other friend. Nothing up to this point worked and he was frustrated.

The first surprise was Remus, Sirius' crush, having to come out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. James didn't doubt that one had caused some warm and fuzzy feelings, "Okay," James thought. _"Maybe not fuzzy feelings, but warm ones for sure."_ he laughed to himself. It still wasn't anything that caused his friend to realize he couldn't ignore how he felt. The other, well didn't work out either and failed so terribly James didn't want to recap it.

James realized now that he had gone about the whole thing the wrong way. He shouldn't be talking to Sirius about feelings, he should talk to Remus. James sat up. Convincing Remus that Sirius returned his feelings without actually spilling his friends' secret was the problem. He narrowed his eyes and looked around. "Now how do I do that?' he said aloud. Spotting a small grove of wild flowers growing off in the direction of Hagrids' shed he smiled. "That might do."

James stood up and walked over to the grove. He quickly gathered together some of the best flowers. It was starting to get dark and was a bit hard to tell which ones looked good and not wilted but he did his best. After he had a good bunch together James used his wand to clean them and figured he'd find something in the common room to bind them._ "Now I'll tell Remus they're from Sirius and say that Sirius was too nervous to give them to him himself."_ James thought and smirked. _"This is bound to work."_

Making his way back up to the castle James cursed himself for not bringing his invisibility cloak with him. It was late and the prefects would be making their rounds soon. James made his way through the halls as quickly and quietly as he could. Once he reached it, he ducked down one of the secret passages his friends and him had found.

* * *

Remus and Peter had made their way back to the Gryffindor common room in silence until they had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Peter," Remus began. "Stop."

Peter listened to his friend and glanced up at him with surprise. "What?" he asked.

Remus breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. "I asked Sirius but he declined to tell me anything. Would you know why James' has been acting weird today?'

Peter looked down at his feet. "What is it Peter?" Remus pressed his friend.

"I, ah, well," Peter faltered.

"Come on Peter, you can tell me" Remus urged.

Peter sighed loudly and raised his head back towards the other boy. "Well, it's like this.." he trailed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "There's this boy, he's a friend and he likes this other boy, another friend and we wanted to, well, James wanted to…" Peter tried to explain but was cut off by Remus.

"Nevermind, it's okay." Remus told his friend. He sighed, obviously James was hiding something from him and both Sirius and Peter seemed reluctant to tell him anything. "Let's get inside and start decorating for the party, James and Sirius should be up soon." he led the way into the common room.

* * *

Sirius had searched for James in all the usual places, the Quidditch pitch, under their groups' favorite tree down by the lake and Hagrids' cabin. There was no sign of him and it had already turned dark.

Frustrated and tired, Sirius decided to head back. He carefully made his way back to the castle and began the long hike back to the common room, ducking into secret hallways when possible.

* * *

James entered the common room and whistled. "You guys did a brilliant job!" he exclaimed as he walked further into the room. He turned his attention to the sound of someone's "Hmpf" and a foot tapping on the floor.

"Not all of us are guys, Potter." Lily Evans announced annoyed.

James beamed at her. "I've noticed," he said, a bit suggestively. Lily pulled a face but James ignored her. "You ladies," he corrected. "did a brilliant job too."

Lily frowned then glanced at James' hand. "Please say those aren't for me." she pled.

James gave her a puzzled look then looked at the flowers in his hand. He had forgotten he had them. "Sorry to disappoint you Evans," he began with a laugh. "But they're not."

"Oh," Lily said quietly and James smirked when he notice she seemed a bit disappointed. "Who are they for?" she asked curiously.

James laughed again. "Remus." he stated. "I'd love to woo you some more Evans but I really have to find Remus and give him these." he gestured with the flowers.

Lily would have said something clever but at that moment she felt she must have missed something. She merely nodded in Remus' direction and watched James cross the room towards his friend, giving her a grin and a wink before he walked away. She stood there puzzled a moment longer before walking away herself and joining her friends.

* * *

James held the flowers in his hand behind his back, he had to wait for the right moment before he gave them to Remus. He was happy he'd gotten a ribbon from one of the girls when he first came, the flowers were no longer making a mess. "Remus I need to talk to you a moment." he said with a pointed look towards Frank, whom Remus had talked to earlier. Frank smiled politely and excused himself. James cleared his throat. "I have something for you." he smiled. "It's from …." he was cut off by a loud, "He's coming!" James hung his head. _"No,"_ he thought. _"Not yet."_ he felt frustrated.

The room went quiet and the lights flicked off. A thump and a string of curses broke the silence a moment later. The lights quickly came back on and everyone, including James and Remus shouted, "Happy Birthday!"

Sirius jumped at the announcement, startled. After James' morning and afternoon stunts he and Remus had hardly seen their friend and figured James' had been moping. Sirius hadn't expected a party and if he were to be honest he would even say the thought of it still be his birthday had slipped his mind.

He walked into the room and smiled as students came forward to wish him a happy birthday. He was friends with many but only acquaintances with the others but appreciated their company and well-wishes the same.

After giving a polite thank-you to everyone else Sirius began making his way towards James and Remus, who stood in a corner near the stairway for the boys' dormitory. He stepped dead in his tracks at what he saw. He was too far away to hear them but he watched as James pulled a small bouquet of flowers from behind his back and handed them to Remus with a large smile on his face. "What the …." he didn't finish his sentence, he merely narrowed his eyes as he continued to watch.

Remus frowned as he stared at the flowers. He glanced at James questioningly.

"I know I've been acting weird all day but I want you know there's a good reason for it." James began. Remus listened patiently.

James had been going to tell Remus the flowers were from Sirius but changed his mind. That would have been the same as telling his friend Sirius' secret. Rather, James hoped that Remus would guess it, in the end James should have known better. "These are from someone who fancies you a lot, they're in our year and well," he paused and straightened out his glasses. "They're a boy." James finished quickly.

Remus was more than a little surprised to hear that. His brows creased for a moment then in a flash the day's events ploughed through his mind and the conversation with Peter rang clear. His eyes widened with realization and disbelief, "No, this wasn't happening," Remus breathed in deeply, "Not James!" he thought. He felt panicked. He grabbed James' arm, "We need to talk!" Remus said, leading James to the staircase.


	4. The confession

Sirius stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw. He was too far away to hear them but he watched as James pulled a small bouquet of flowers from behind his back and handed them to Remus with a large smile on his face. "What the …." he didn't finish his sentence, he merely narrowed his eyes as he continued to stare.

Only after he saw Remus grab James' arm and pull him upstairs was Sirius able to move again. He was about to follow his friends when a voice called to him. "Hey Black." It was Lily Evans.

Lily stared in confusion at the staircase to the boy's dormitory. "Yeah, I don't get it either." She shook her head. "One minute he's falling over himself to try to get my attention, the next he's handing Remus flowers." She frowned. "I just don't get boys." She said flatly before turning around and leaving Sirius alone once more.

With his eyes narrowed and fist clenched Sirius made his way to the stairs. _"He tells me he thinks I should admit my feelings to Remus then when I don't he does that!"_ he thought bitterly. _"Some friend."_

* * *

Remus and James sat on James' bed. James reclined his back against the headboard, his knees bent in front of him and his arms crossed over his chest. They hadn't said anything since they entered the room. If James was honest with himself he'd admit he was confused. He had given Remus the flowers and told him they were from a boy in their year. James thought with everything that happened that day the boy would have figured out who liked him. _"So, why did a panic-stricken Remus drag him upstairs, saying they needed to talk?_"James wondered. He waited patiently for his friend to speak up.

Remus sat cross-legged on James' bed in front of him, his hands laid in his lap. The young lycanthrope knew he had to say something but he needed to find the right words. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "First," he began, looking at James intently. "I want to say thank you, I'm very flattered." James sent him a curious look but didn't question him so he continued. "But," Remus wet his lips. "I just don't return your feelings." he finished hurriedly.

If James hadn't been confused before, he was now. "What are you talking about?" his eyebrows raised.

Remus thought for a moment then smiled softly. "You fancy me and I still want to be friends but …." Remus stopped short when he noticed James slap a hand to his forehead. "What?" he asked James, unsure.

James slid his hand from his forehead down his face, minding his glasses. _"My friends, they are prats."_ he thought. "Merlin's' sake Remus!" he said frustrated. "I don't fancy you!, Sirius does!" James shouted as he threw his head back and slapped his hand on the bed next to him. When he took the chance to look back at his friend, not only did he see a surprised Remus in front of him but he also saw a very pissed looking Sirius standing in the doorway. "Bloody freaking hell." James cursed as he threw his head back again."Bugger this." James thought. Sirius opened his mouth to say something but before he could utter a word James held a hand up to stop him. "Don't," James stood up, "Just don't." he groaned in irritation.

James walked towards Sirius and stopped when he was in between his bed, where Remus still sat and looked at James puzzled, and Sirius, who still stood near the door. "First; Remus," he looked at Remus tiredly. "I do like you but not like that. I was acting the way I was because Sirius likes you, you know, likes like, fancies." He was interrupted by Sirius, "James!" Sirius snapped at him. James turned to Sirius. "You fancy him." James pointed to Remus. "He fancies you." He pointed to Sirius. "And I," James pointed to himself. **"I had enough of both of you and am going back to the party!"** His friends watched in stunned silence as James pushed past Sirius and slammed the door behind him. They heard a faint muttering of, "Idiots, the lot of them."

* * *

James had been back at the party for nearly fifteen minutes when Peter sought him out. He had finally began to calm down and was enjoying talking with Frank and a few others about Quidditch.

"Looks like your plan worked." Peter began, nodding to a corner of the room.

James glanced at Peter and followed his gaze. Standing in a corner on the other end of the room were Sirius and Remus. The two stood close to each other and were smiling happily.

"It's about time." James said flatly. He couldn't help the smile that came to his lips though as he watched Sirius tuck a stray piece of hair behind Remus' ear and Remus look down shyly.

Frank laughed next to James. "You went about it in a weird way but," he clapped James on the back. "Good job Potter!" he exclaimed cheerfully with a wink.

James snorted. "Was there ever any doubt my plan would work?"

Peter and Frank looked away. "No, no, of course not." Frank said, unconvincingly. "Never doubted you for a moment." Peter chimed in.

James sighed loudly. "Learned one thing though," He glanced between Peter and Frank.

"Your friends are prats?" Peter offered.

Pushing up his glasses, James shook his head. "Besides that."

"What?" Frank questioned.

"Never try to plan a surprise for Sirius." James said with a grin. They all burst into laughter.


End file.
